News in Brief: A Washington Roundup

Denver Schools, OCR Hit Stalemate

After months of disagreement between federal officials and the
Denver school district over how best to serve students in the district
whose native language is not English, federal civil rights officials
last week, in an unusual move, turned the issue over to the Department
of Justice.

Generally, when the Department of Education's office for civil
rights concludes that a district has violated federal rules, the
district and the agency negotiate a plan to remedy the problem.
Negotiations between the Denver district and the federal government
broke off last month when the two sides could not agree on such a
plan.

Federal officials maintain that the district's proposals are
inadequate and do not guarantee that limited-English-proficient
students will not be placed in mainstream, English classrooms before
they are ready. Denver officials say the agency is pressuring them to
provide bilingual education.

In July, the federal agency concluded that the district had violated
federal civil rights law by discriminating against students on the
basis of their limited English proficiency by not providing adequate
services. Some 13,000 of Denver's 66,000 students are considered LEP.
The Justice Department is reviewing the case to see whether it will
take the matter to court. ("Federal
Officials Take Denver To Task Over Bilingual Ed. Program," Sept. 3,
1997.)

HHS Awards Child-Care Contract

The Finance Project, a nonprofit organization that focuses on
improving the way children's services are financed, has been awarded a
$515,000 contract from the Department of Health and Human Services to
encourage child-care partnerships between states and the private
sector.

The goal is to improve and expand high-quality child care throughout
the country, particularly for families on welfare. The Finance Project,
located in Washington, will seek to build on innovative programs
already in place. The group also plans to publish a quarterly bulletin
and schedule a national conference for next summer.

Technical assistance for the project will come from the National
Governors' Association, also based in Washington, and from the Families
and Work Institute in New York City.

ED Issues Preschool Information

The Department of Education has released two new resources: its
annual "Directory of Early Childhood Programs" and an overview of
Section 619 of the nation's main special education law, which provides
funding for special education preschool programs.

The documents review activities under the programs, which are
overseen by the department's office of special education programs. But
recent changes made under the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act reauthorization will not be included until next year's
editions.

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